Spirits of Gaia

Is everyone else as busy as I am this time of year? Sheesh. It’s non-stop fun.

But I have had some time for Spirits of Gaia, and since the last time I wrote here, I’ve made some changes to the design. Those made me happy, but they also were pretty significant, and so I decided to scrap and recode the game. Yes, all of it. Well, I’m reusing big chunks, but in a less “oh god, what the heck am I doing?!” sort of way. I’ve learned a lot, and now I’ve undertaken the real thing.

The design took a while to figure out. I actually went back to an idea that I had previously cut, after realizing that I cut too much. Now, I have more confidence that this game will be good. I was struggling to figure out the fun before, but that key change (hinted at by the screenshot) broke the dam.

In terms of actual art, this isn’t representative. In terms of art style, this is what I want the game to look like. I’m using photo collage. It’s really fun, and I don’t think that people will die when they look at the game (unlike the old version).

Given all the other constraints I’m working around, this is a pretty good compromise. I’m sure a real artist could do much better, but I’ll wrangle with that thought when I have some money to give to said artist for his or her services!

This version isn’t beautiful, and as I said, this isn’t the “real” art, and certainly I want to jettison those ugly default buttons. That won’t happen for a while. I’m still getting the interface navigation skeleton laid out, but there are some slick transitions and moving parts to make it fun to use already. There’s going to be a lot of polish on the details, because I like shiny games!

I wish you all much merriment this holiday season, and I shall return soon with more news! Thanks for reading.

–Jason

I’m pleased to write that the combat loop is now functional in the game. You are given a pre-set deck, and the cards are used to inflict damage back and forth until somebody loses. It’s not fun at all because you can only inflict damage and there are no special moves or modifiers yet.

And although it is a great sign of progress, there is a ton more work ahead. That said, you can move from location to location, talk to NPCs, chat with other players, and enter battles. It’s a nice little foundation for more meaningful interactions I am going to implement (a.k.a. the actual gameplay).

Currently, the client simply reports things in text (apart from a placeholder NPC portrait) when you click on buttons. It’s very crude and completely ugly. Probably my next major effort will be to get the client whipped into shape. I mean really whipped into shape, with a full interface and all the utilitarian functionality completed. It may remain as ugly as heck, but at least it will be more interesting.

For anyone who hasn’t made a game before, building the interface and supporting features is the “work” part of game development. It’s boring (to me) but surprisingly critical to the feel of the game, and certainly critical to its usability. If you lack self-discipline, this is usually the place where the pet project grinds to a halt and never really recovers. The fact that I need income is a great motivator, and so I don’t really have an option (thank goodness!).

Back to the trenches I go, until next update.

Thanks for reading,
–Jason

The time has come to divulge a few tidbits regarding just what the heck this game is about. I’ve been very reticent in order to not allow expectations to build regarding the game, but I think it’s safe to say a few brief remarks now.

The framework of the game is a MUD-like environment. There is no direct avatar control, no walking from point to point on a screen. You will move from location to location in discrete steps, like moving from room to room. My plan is to have each location illustrated and probably somewhat animated. But, overall, it will feel like you’re in a graphical MUD. That’s not to say you won’t have an avatar at all–you will! It just won’t be the kind you see walking around. It’ll show up on the battle screen, though.

Combat is currently the central activity, and it revolves around a collectible card game mechanic. It’s turn-based and will have plenty of tactical depth. The current version of the game (such that it is, being pre-alpha and still wretched looking) is player versus player, but I am going to implement AI opponents, too.

I’m leaving a lot of leeway for the game to evolve, so I really can’t say for sure that PvP will be in the final version or even if AI will be. Once I reach “alpha” I will invite some testers to play and we’ll figure out where to take things. It might turn out that AI is the exclusive way to play because of accessibility issues (there might not always be someone around with whom to battle). Or, it might turn out that live PvP is so much more fun we toss AI out on its bum! Or maybe both will be available (that’s what I’m expecting, honestly).

All of this is really a by-product of the fact that I’m one guy, and I need to make a game pretty quickly, or I have to stop making games other than in between some hellish day job. So, I’ve taken the feature knife to this design and sliced off everything except the more bare bones functionality. That’s necessary for me to be able to complete something with a level of quality for which I won’t feel guilty charging money. The Jason has got to eat, you see?

I wanted to announce a little chat party, but priorities tend to dictate my actions, so that’s going to be deferred until later. The upshot is that I’m knee-deep in coding the combat system, so when it happens, maybe the party will be about more than chatting.

Stay tuned,
–Jason

I’ve been very quiet on this blog so far, but for good reasons.

Firstly, I don’t want to talk much about this game yet. No, there’s no chance that it’s going to be put on hold, but I think talking too much before there’s something to show offers too much freedom for people to imagine a game to be something more than it is. In other words, I don’t want to allow expectations to get out of line with reality.

Secondly, I’ve been too busy with my face to the grindstone (I use more than my nose, you see) to post anything. I’ve been on a low email, blog, and Internet diet lately. I’m on a mission here, people! Therefore, part of the reason I don’t post much (or go anywhere, sadly) is because I’m coding my brains out (possibly literally, but let’s hope not).

Thirdly, I want to be able to post here and have it be meaningful to you, my dear readers. I don’t want to waste your time with little fluffy posts meant to maintain your attention while I’m working. I’ve decided that if anyone wants to follow the blog before the game is done, I’m super happy and totally thankful. But I can’t dedicate time to attempting to entertain you wonderful folks because I want to put all of my energy into production. So, when I post, I want it to contain something good.

Here’s something good: I just got the game to a state where you can travel from location to location.

I hear you muttering, “He’s insane. That’s boring, and who cares? I want to see the art!” Well, there is no art yet (besides the logo I made). It’s not time. Besides, moving around in the game world is a really significant milestone. It demonstrates the completion of a lot of fundamental support systems. All kinds of stuff under the hood that you don’t even want to know about.

So, right now, the game is a kind of glorified chat client with MUD-like rooms navigated with a graphical interface. Actually, that describes what the end result will be like, too. But right now it’s so hideously wretched looking that only I can bear to view it for more than a couple minutes. (It’s killed several other people who looked longer.) Later it will have a pretty face and a Final Fantasy style turn-based combat system. Whoops! I shouldn’t have written that….

Until next time (when I’ll be announcing something fun and interactive!), take care.

–Jason

Hello, hello!

This blog is where I’ll be posting news and information about my new game, Spirits of Gaia. It’s still reeeally early in the development cycle, but I wanted to let everyone know about the project.

Spirits of Gaia is a “shared world” game, meaning that the main gameplay allows you to interact with your friends, but in a way that doesn’t require them to be present all the time. This isn’t easy to explain until I can start talking about the game design specifics, but it’s a way of playing that I personally find really interesting and accessible. Much, much more information to come!

The plan is to release the game on Facebook, where it has a good chance of finding players organically (ha! get it? Gaia, organic… oh nevermind). There will be a closed alpha, a closed beta, then a preview launch which will be open to those who have an invite key. After that, there will be a full launch to any and all who want to play. All this before 2009 is gone. I’m workin’ my bum off to get this thing done as soon as possible.

This blog and the main site (which gets kind of mangled in IE7–why am I surprised?) will continue to evolve, so please bear with me as I find time to take care of making it all pretty and functional. Also, remember that you can add this RSS feed to your newsreader or get email updates.

I really appreciate your support, so thank you for stopping by!

–Jason McIntosh